America ‘has declared war’ on North Korea

In the latest bout of North Korean craziness, the pariah state has claimed that the US has "crossed the red line" and effectively declared war on them.

Good grief, Donald Trump's not even in power yet and we could be on the verge of World War III.

The move that seems to have angered the dictatorial state is the US putting their leader Kim Jong-Un on a list of 'sanctioned individuals', and they warn that a showdown could result if South Korea and the US conduct their annual war games, as currently planned for next month.

Han Song Ryol, director-general of the US affairs department at the North's Foreign Ministry said in an interview: "The Obama administration went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK [North Korea] in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK. The United States has crossed the red line in our showdown. We regard this thrice-cursed crime as a declaration of war."

North Korea had already been suffering under international sanctions for its continued nuclear weapons and long-range missile testing, but a 6 July announcement from Washington was the first time that Kim Jong-Un has been personally sanctioned. Now, Pyongyang has declared that all relations between the two countries must now be conducted under "war law".

Han Song Ryol also stated, "Day by day, the U.S. military blackmail against the DPRK and the isolation and pressure is becoming more open. It is not us, it is the United States that first developed nuclear weapons, who first deployed them and who first used them against humankind. And on the issue of missiles and rockets, which are to deliver nuclear warheads and conventional weapons warheads, it is none other than the United States who first developed it and who first used it."

Which is a fair point.

He went on, "We are all prepared for war, and we are all prepared for peace. If the United States forces those kinds of large-scale exercises in August, then the situation caused by that will be the responsibility of the United States."

Katina Adams, State Department spokeswoman for East Asia and the Pacific, responded by saying the US continues to call on North Korea, "to refrain from actions and rhetoric that further destabilize the region and focus instead on taking concrete steps toward fulfilling its commitments and international obligations."

She added that the US-South Korea military exercises are defence-oriented, and have been publicly carried out for around 40 years. "These exercises are a clear demonstration of the US commitment to the alliance," she said.